29 And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will y spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the z earth is the LORD'S. 30 But as for thee and thy servants, a I know that ye will not yet fear the LORD God. 31 And the flax and the barley was smitten: b for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled. 32 But the wheat and the rye y 1 Kings 8. 22, 38. Ps. 143. 6. Isai. 1. 15. z Ps. 24. 1. 1 Cor. 10. 26, 28. a Isai. 26. 10. b Ruth 1. 22. & 2. 23. no longer. Heb. 17o 3 lo tosiphun laamod, shall not add to stand. Chal. 'I will detain you no longer.' 29. As soon as I am gone out of the city. He would retire from the city not only for purposes of privacy, in his intercession with God, but also to show that he was not afraid to expose himself to the action of the elements in the open field. By thus venturing forth in the midst of the tempest with a perfect confidence of impunity, Moses gave to Pharaoh a striking proof that he was the special object of the divine protection, and consequently that his message ought to be diligently heeded. That thou mayest know, &c. That is, that thou mayest be convinced that the God of the Hebrews is no local deity like the fancied gods of Egypt, but the absolute and universal Sovereign, holding sway over all creatures, controlling the elements, and making every department of nature obsequious to his will. 'See what various methods God uses to bring men to their proper senses. Judgments are sent, and judgments removed, and all for the same end, to make men know that the Lord reigns.' Henry. 31. The flax was bolled. That is, podded. Heb. 3 happishtah gibol. The original word occurs were not smitten: for they were not grown up. 33 And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and espread abroad his hands unto the LORD: and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. 34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses. c ver. 29. ch. 8. 12. d ch. 4. 21. only here, and its true import is not easily fixed. Nearly all the ancient versions understand it as intimating a stage of maturity in the flax in which it was past flowering. We think it probable that the genuine scope of the Heb. term expresses the formation of that small globous fruit, pod, or capsule on the top of the stalk of flax which succeeds the flower, and contains the seed. Gr. 'The flax was in seed, or seeding.' Egyptians sowed all sorts of grain soon after the waters of the Nile had subsided; but flax and barley being of more rapid growth would at any given time he more forward than wheat and rye, which explains the circumstance men. tioned in the text. The interval between the two harvests is usually about a month. The 34, 35. The thunders and the hail ceased. The prayer of Moses was in this case invested with a power like that of Elias, and the two witnesses of the Apocalypse, James, 5. 17, 18. Rev. 11. 6, to open and shut heaven, and yet the mercy now accorded to Pharaoh tended as little to soften his heart as the previous judgment had done. As if the sun which now shone forth in the clear sky and hardened the soaked and saturated earth had produced a similar effect upon his heart, he is merely em. CHAPTER X. done among them; that ye may AND the LORD said unto Moses, know how that I am the LORD. Go in unto Pharaoh: a for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants; b that I might shew these my signs before him: 2 And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have a ch. 4. 21. & 7. 14. b ch. 7. 4. c Deut. 4. 9. Ps. 44. 1. & 71. 18. & 78. 5, &c. Joel. 1. 3. boldened by this respite of wrath to persist in a course of more determined rebellion. Yet the language of the text implies that this increased hardness of heart was an increased measure of guilt: 'He sinned yet more and more, and hardened his heart;' i. e. sinned by hardening his heart. God's foretelling the result, therefore, and permitting it, did not go to lessen his criminality. CHAPTER X. 1. Go in unto Pharaoh. That is, to renew the demand so often made and so often resisted; though this is not in so many words asserted in the text. We infer what Moses was ordered to say from what he did say. Wicked men are sometimes to be admonished even where there is no hope that they will be amended. But while the divine message was to be repeated, and new tokens of the vengeance of God denounced as shortly to appear before Pharaoh and his people, an additional reason is assigned for the fearful proceedings thus far and thenceforth recorded. God had providentially and permissively hardened the hearts of Pharaoh and his servants, in order to take occasion from the event for the display of such signs and miracles as would furnish a lesson never to be forgotten to his own people and to their posterity to the latest generation. And not to them only, for as the charge is given more immediately, though not excluVOL. I 11 3 And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to d humble thyself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. d1 Kings 21. 29. 2 Chron. 7. 14. & 34. 27. Job 42. 6. Jer. 13. 18. James 4. 10. 1 Pet. 5.6. sively to Moses, we may understand it as an intimation, that these miraculous inflictions were to be recorded and thus made in his writings a perpetual source of instruction, and admonition to the end of the world. This use they are in fact serving at this moment. Wherever the word of God is published abroad in the earth, there are these signal events made known, and there are they operating to impress the hearts of the children of men with an awful sense of the greatness of God and the danger of provoking him to jealousy. Before him. Heb. pa bekirbo, in the midst of him; where the person of the king stands for the body of his people collectively. See Note on Gen. 14. 10. Gr. "That yet my signs may come ɛr' aurdvs upon them.' Chal. 'That I might set my signs in the midst of them ;' i. e. of Pharaoh and his people. Syr. 'That I might do these my signs among them.' 3. How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Gr. 80s tivas du Bovde Evroatпvai pɛ; how long wilt thou not reverence me? This is the grand controversy of God with sinners, that they refuse at his bidding to humble themselves in penitent prostration before him. But to this point they must come at last, and the more voluntarily it is done the better. Pharaoh had indeed on former occasions made some pretences to humbling himself, but as he was neither sincere nor constant in it, it passed for nothing in God's esteem, 4 Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to-morrow will bring the e locusts into thy coast: 5. And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree • Prov. 30. 27. Rom. 9. 3. fch. 9. 32. Joel. .1. 4. & 2. 25. and he is here addressed as if it were a duty which he had never yet performed in the least degree. Let us learn from this how little value God puts upon those religious acts in which the heart is wanting. which groweth for you out of the field: 6 And they & shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh. 5 ch. 8. 3, 21. through all the earth.' Heb. 'This is their eye through all the earth;' i. e. their aspect, their visible appearance. So also possibly Zech. 3. 9, 'Upon one stone shall be seven eyes ;' i. e. a sevenfold aspect; it shall have the property 4, 5. To-morrow will I bring the lo- of presenting under different circumcusts into thy coast. Heb.stances seven distinct phases.-Swarms hinneni mëbi mahar arbeh, of this devouring insect had often bebehold me bringing to-morrow the lo- fore been the scourge of Egypt, but he cust; collect. sing. for plur. The orig- was told that this irruption of them inal word for locust ( arbeh) is de- should be beyond all former precedent, rived from rabah, to be multiplied, and that their numbers, size, and vora. or increased. It carries, therefore, the city should be such, that they would import of prodigious numbers, Judg. 6. eat up every vegetable production in the 5, Jer. 46. 23, and on this account im- land. The wheat and the rye, it is clear, mense swarms of locusts stand in the had escaped the ravages of the hail, ch. figurative style of the prophets for mul- 9. 32, but they were now to be swept titudinous armies of men. Thus when away by the locust, and whatever trees the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, Rev. had been left with leaves upon their 9. 3, 'There came out of the smoke of branches were now to be stript bare. the bottomless pit locusts upon earth,' denoting the countless hordes of Saracens which arose in the commencement of the seventh century under Mohammed, and overran and depopulated a great portion of Christendom.-- They shall cover the face of the earth. Heb. 6. He turned himself and went out. eth ayin haaretz, the eye Seeing no reason to anticipate any betof the earth. The phraseology is sin- ter reception of his message than begular, but it is probably by metonymy fore.. Words had hitherto passed beof the faculty for the object, denoting tween them without producing the dethat the sight, the visibility, of the earth sired results. Moses now left it with should be hidden by the dense masses God to deal with him mainly by acts. and layers of locusts. A phraseology of It is a fearful point which the sinner perhaps a similar import occurs, Zech. has reached, when the messenger of God 5 6, in the description of the symboli- | thinks it of very little consequence what cal ephah; 'This is their resemblance his answer may be. Which neither thy fathers nor thy fathers' fathers have seen; i. e. the like of which for numbers and ravages thy fathers have never seen; not that they had never seen locusts at all before. God: but who are they 7 And Pharaoh's servants said | LORD your unto him, How long shall this man that shall go? be ha snare unto us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? 8 And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the 9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go: for iwe must hold a feast unto the LORD. 10 And he said unto them, Let the LORD be so with you, as I will Perceiving the feeling that was entertained by his court and his subjects, he resolved so far to comply with their wishes as to have Moses and Aaron sent for and brought back, that he might at least ostensibly appear disposed to treat with them anew. But who are they that shall go? Heb. who (are) going? The repetition of the interrogative is emphatic, implying that he was to specify with the utmost distinctness who were to go, and who, if any, were to stay behind. Moses in reply tells him plainly that they were to serve God with their all; that their wives and their children, their flocks and their herds, without any exception or reservation, must go with them. 7. And Pharaoh's servants said unto him. That is, the principal men that were about him, his nobles and counsellors. After the loss and devastation which the preceding plague had occasioned, they ventured to remonstrate. - How long shall this man be a snare unto us? How long shall he prove the cause of leading us into fresh mi va-mi haholekim, who and calamities? As, however, there is no separate word in the original to answer to 'man,' some have supposed the meaning to be, how long shall this thing, this affair, be a snare to us?' And with this the Gr. coincides, ews Tivos εOTAL TOUTO Nμív okwλov, how long shall this scandal be to us? But were this the true sense, the original would doubtless benzoth instead of ♫ zeh, which latter is the proper designation of a person instead of a thing. Our version is correct.¶ Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? Hast thou not yet evidence enough from the calamities experienced, especially by the ravages of the late hail-storm, that the whole country is just upon the verge of destruction? If his own courtiers and counsellors were of this opinion, the king could not but infer that in the course he was now pursuing, he was no longer sustained by the general consent of the Egyptian people, who now la mented his obstinacy, and had become desirous that, as the least of many evils, the demand of the Israelites should be complied with. This consideration was not without its weight with the king. 10. And he said unto them, Let the Lord, &c. This bold and positive declaration of Moses was too much for Pharaoh. Greatly exasperated by this uncompromising statement he answers in a style of mingled irony and wrath, 'Let the Lord do with you as I will let you go ;' q. d. 'If this be the proposed condition of your going, that you take your little ones with you, then may the God whom you serve favor you as much with his presence as I do with my consent, and no more. In this case your prospects are sorry indeed.' It is a very strong and emphatic mode of denying them the permission which they sought. -T Look to it, for evil is before you. It is doubted by commentators whether this is to be understood as a threatening let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you. 11 Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve the LORD; for that ye did desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's pres ence. 12 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, k ch. 7. 19. of evil to happen to them, or as an accusation of evil intended by them. Probably the words will admit the union of both senses; 'You are harboring an evil design, and are exposing yourselves to the evil of a corresponding punishment.' Gr. 'See that mischief is proposed by you.' Vulg. 'Who doubteth but that you intend very wickedly?' Chal. 'See how the evil which you were thinking to do shall return to your own faces.' 11. Not so. I do not consent to your going on these conditions.- T Go now ye that are men. 'Leave your women and children behind as a pledge for your safe return, and then you have my consent that the 'men,' all the adults of the congregation, should go, for this is the fair interpretation of your request; thus only did I understand it; thus far only will I comply with it.' Yet it is difficult to say what authority he had for such an assertion, as the foregoing narrative attributes no expression to Moses which would seem fairly capable of such a construction. It is possible he intended to say, that that must have been Moses' meaning when he asked permission to sacrifice unto Jehovah. But he had no right to attribute a sense to Moses' words which Moses did not design to convey, and then act as if it were the true sense. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence. Heb. D 77 va-yegaresh otham, and one drove them out; an instance of the phraseology in which a that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left. 13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night: and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. I ver. 4. 5. verb active is used indefinitely in the third person singular for the plural passive. See Note on Gen. 16. 14. 'Among natives of rank, when a person is very importunate or troublesome, when he presses for something which the former are not willing to grant, he is told to begone. Should he still persist, the servants are called, and the order is given, 'Drive that fellow out.' He is then seized by the neck, or taken by the hands, and dragged from the premises; he all the time screaming and bawling as if they were taking his life. Thus to be driven out is the greatest indignity which can be offered, and nothing but the most violent rage will induce a superior to have recourse to it.' Roberts. 12. For the locusts, that they may come up. va-yaal, for the locust, that he may come up; collect. sing. ba-arbeh בארבה ויעל .Heb 13. The Lord brought an east wind upon the land. Heb. nihag, conducted. The word is remarkable, as it has the import of guiding, leading, directing one's course. The wind may be said to blow where it listeth; but then it listeth or chooseth only as God has ordered it. At his command it blows one day to bring up locusts, and on the next another to sweep them away. Though locusts are common in Arabia, they are comparatively rare in Egypt; the Red Sea forming a sort of barrier against them, as they are not formed for crossing seas, or for long flights. Yet on the present occasion they were |